Sudan's Oil-Rich North-South Border Areas Are Tense, Militarized, ICG Says

Sudan’s oil-rich north-south border areas are growing increasingly militarized and tense five months before Southern Sudan is scheduled to vote on independence, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said.

A “poisoned atmosphere” between former rebels of Southern Sudan and the authorities in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, has meant plans to demarcate the border have stalled, five years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended a 21-year civil war between the north and south, ICG said today in a report.

“The undefined boundary has hindered CPA implementation, fuelled mistrust between its signatories and, most recently, contributed to heightened anxiety and insecurity along the border,” according to the report.

A key element in the peace agreement, which granted Southern Sudan semi-autonomous status, was a referendum that would allow the region, which has its capital in Juba, to decide whether to secede from the rest of Sudan.

Preparations for the ballot are behind schedule. While an initial voter roll was due to be completed by the end of August, according to the referendum law passed by Sudan’s national assembly in December, voter registration has not begun.

The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, which is organizing the vote, today unanimously nominated former diplomat Mohamed Othman al-Nojoumi as its secretary-general, commission spokesman Tarek Othman al-Taher said by phone from Khartoum.

Obstacle

“This was the main obstacle to the commission operating,” al-Taher said. President Umar al-Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir, who is the leader of Southern Sudan, must approve the nomination, he said.

Oil fields in Southern Sudan account for most of the nation’s crude output, which, at 490,000 barrels a day, is the third-biggest in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

“The governments in Khartoum and Juba alike rely heavily on oil revenues that derive primarily from the border lands,” ICG said. Both the Sudanese government armed forces and Southern Sudan’s army “have exhibited an aggressive military posture in some border areas.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Boswell in Juba at aboswell2@bloomberg.net; Maram Mazen in Khartoum at mmazen@bloomberg.net.

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